A FEW YEARS AGO, Dave Frohnmayer and I were speaking at Northwest Christian University on the subject of leadership when he shared an adage with students that I’ve never forgotten. “Tell me,” he said, “and I’ll forget. Show me, I’ll … Continued
It’s easy to play the “what-if” game when we feel we’ve been the victims. But it’s just as easy to overlook the times the “what-if” game gave us an opportunity we might not have had: to be on the nation’s largest stage as one of the last two teams out of 128 still standing.
We were going around the room, introducing ourselves at a recent writers workshop I was leading, when one of the attendees got negative about herself. I listened to this woman — a two-time winner of our Metaphors Be With You … Continued
EDITOR’S NOTE: When Cade Welch, our first grandson, was born in 2005, I began a ritual of writing a once-a-year letter to him in The Register-Guard — and later to his sister and cousins — come birthday time. Today, Cade … Continued
I’ve been marketing books of mine now for more than 20 years but only recently realized a big mistake I was making: Thinking it was only about books and sales. Instead of, say, salt and light. Or experiences. Or giving … Continued
They say if you want to make money in the writing business you find a niche and go to that place again and again. In other words, if the crowd loved your trumpet solo don’t come back on stage with … Continued
Mother of Rain, about hardscrabble life in the hills of Tennessee in the 1930s and ’40s, is the most intriguing read I’ve experienced in years. Full disclosure: I consider author Karen Zacharias a “writer friend” among whose attributes is an … Continued
Editor’s note: Since leaving The Register-Guard Dec. 6, 2013 I’ve had numerous requests from readers who missed my final column. Here it is: Column writing, it’s been said, is a little like running in front of a combine in a … Continued
SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — Here’s what it’s like to spend a weekend at the Wonderful Life Festival in Seneca Falls, N.Y. You’re waiting for a table at Parker’s Grille and Taphouse when a stranger leans over to you and says: … Continued